From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Bastien did not pay too much attention to the growing crowd, much too entranced by the creature before him. Still, he tried to offer a quick smile around whenever a few joined as well as a spoken greeting to the few he knew such as Vervain and Rexanna (and jumped back with a frown to dodge the spit Devrum so kindly missed him with).
The creature only responded to his criticisms with a shrug. His beginnings of a speech about how aesthetics were deathly important fizzled out to nothing as the beast grew in size and demanded it's task of them.
He listened to some of the other words thrown it's way first before choosing his own. With a smug smirk, he spoke his word, thinking it superior to any of the common-tongued bores the others had come out with.
"Sprezzatura." Bastien spoke, with a careful bow and fanning out of his hands.
She had planned on remaining near the back, listening to the others that knew each other a bit more intimately to see what it was all about – though there was little information to go off of. It seemed nobody really knew what this was about, and Rexanna certainly was clueless. However, as she continued to look at the box, she didn’t notice as Alistair moved from where he was and walked toward her. Her sapphire gaze slipped from the box in the creature’s hands to Alistair, offering a charming smile his way.
“It seems almost ominous, to be honest.” She offered in response to his suggestion of something fantastic being in the box, and moved to stand by her side. Her head shifted with him to watch as he continued to speak, sparking a bright laugh to leave her chest. “Could you imagine?” She nearly whispered, grinning to him before dipping her head in a greeting. “Hello Alistair.” Her voice was soft but happy all the same as her gaze left him to the creature. She was about to say more before the creature moved and began to speak.
It was an interesting creature, and rather than being frightened by it Rexanna was intrigued. How could it move like that, so thin and nearly made of nothing? She supposed anything was possible after her encounter with Remi and Frey, yet she was still uncertain. As the creature stopped speaking and others began to pipe up their single words, Rexanna’s gaze never left the creature. Did it want a nice sounding word, or something that the creature themselves pleased? She wasn’t sure, but she picked the one thing she knew she adored most in the world. The color gold. But it often went by a more beautiful name back home, and so with that in mind, her lips parted and she smiled to the creature. “Aurelian.” She said with a pleased smile, almost having forgotten that others were there.
She tore her eyes from the creature and looked back to Alistair with a small shrug and crooked smile.
12-11-2018, 05:59 AM (This post was last modified: 12-11-2018, 06:00 AM by Alistair.)
ALISTAIR
So...it would be a game with words this thing would devise was it? Lips pursed in a mockingly smug look as his eyebrows raised, rather impressed with Rexanna 's choice of words.
He nodded as if he were contemplating severely on how to best such a vocabulary. Alistair held a reputation as a man of letters and had much to live up to.
"Hello"
He called out to the creature, turning to Rex with a wink and a nod as if saying 'I got this, you go on and learn from my example' before he chuckled.
"You mask your impressed look better than anyone I've ever seen...you should see me run. Like a nude chicken, I spare no detail on that sight."
He muttered quietly to her with a slow forming grin.
Archebold glanced around bemused by all of this. Knob of his walking stick twirling about in his palm as he watched every pathetic attempt to appease this creature...
Had it always been so simple to manipulate this flock of meat bags? Had he wasted all his years planning and plotting when all it took was a box?
Vanya’s eyebrows rose with the creature that held the box, and she pursed her lips as Ronin’s arm slipped around her waist. Her eyes didn’t leave the thing, but she did keep herself pressed to his side. It was awfully… tall. And it’s voice grated on her ears, such an unpleasant sound, and the osprey wasn’t sure she liked the feeling of this - that thing and this bridge and its voice. That box though… that she was curious about.
Her eyes flickered up to Ronin when he gave his word, and she scoffed with a smile. Cheeky bastard, she almost said, but she wasn’t sure if that figure would decide to take one of those words as her answer. Instead she elbowed him gently before flicking nutmeg eyes back to the figure. The box.
”And,” Vanya spoke up, a small smile flickering over her lips as she let the sound of question tilt her word to the creature. And, because there had to be a catch right? No way all it wanted was a word. A word and what else? What would it take to see what in all the Ocean’s depths was in that box?
He took a breath, steadying himself against the rising and falling voices of the gathered crowd. There were quite a few who came to investigate the curious creature and the even more curious box it held. He would be lying to say he wasn’t itching for the chance to know what was inside.
He listened to the people’s offered words, some bringing an all-too-rare grin to his face and others making him scowl. You don’t question or challenge creepy mystery creatures! That should be common sense to people, but apparently not! Some of these newcomers might not have been as bright as they probably thought.
Desmond tilted his held just barely, looking from the box to the creature and back again. ”Wonder,” he said, just loud enough for his voice to carry, glancing around at the others around him.
Like the end of a Hitchcock movie, a little dark and a lot confusing
Some tried to be clever, others poignant, some crude, but only one answer really caught the attention of the creature. One answer that seemed without agenda or pomp or a desire to come across as intelligent or grandiose was Vanya.
And?
And indeed.
"Very good Vanya Hali." It announced, plucking her name easily from her mind but also the minds of those around her who knew her.
It took a step closer and seemed to grow even thinner.
"If I asked you to jump from this bridge giving you my assurances that no harm would come to you and that your bravery would be rewarded, would you do it?"
Unfortunately Deimos and Kaladin are disqualified for not posting within the 48 hours! You may continue to post in this thread if you like but you can no longer win a prize.
Glancing towards Vanya as the creature offered its approval, Remi leaned to whisper in Vervain 's ear. "I think I liked yours more." There was a small trace of a smile in his voice, but his face remained quiet stoney.
Loren wasn't here. Something strange and interesting was happening and yet again Loren wasn't here.
Swallowing Remi tried to push these thoughts away.
At the creature's next question, the alchemist gave an easy and immediate shrug. "I would." He said with boyish cheer, before offering a wry smile. "I can fly of course, so your assurances of safety would not weigh in to my choice." If he couldn't fly though, would he? Probably not. Remi had no need for rewards or to prove his bravery.
remi
At another place in time, you were infinitely mine
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Would she fucking jump off a damn bridge just because someone told her to? Wasn't that the sort of shit you learned as a kid precisely not to do? And now here was this cloaked thing basically bribing them to do just that?
Huh.
Edy actually had no idea if she would or wouldn't. On the one hand it sounded absolutely ridiculous. On the other hand....rewards? She was down for that. Still though...if things went sideways she'd be abandoning her family in a sense. With as rocky as things were it might be easy to just say fuck it and go it alone from here on out, but Edy wouldn't think like that. Family was family. She wouldn't jump off some bridge if it meant potentially leaving them alone.
"Naaaahhhhh. I'm good." The teenager said, crossing her arms and cocking a hip, wondering if her answer was going to get her into more or less trouble.
Two things happened, but not necessarily in the right order.
First (or rather, most importantly), the weird cloaked thing addressed his lady and drew Ronin's attention like a predator to prey. He pulled Vanya a touch closer, his eyes never leaving the creature, and there were a lot of things rattling in the back of his throat that were tempted to come tearing out. He didn't care if the thing was complimenting her or threatening her - as far as he was concerned it had no business being anywhere near her until it made its intentions absolutely clear.
Second, gullible.
It was the voice, rather than the word, that drew his attention around. Blue eyes blazed with cold fire at the sight of the Bloodfiend in their midst, and Vanya would all but feel his fingers twitch against her side. "Captain Cobb," he greeted Archebold with all the warmth of a glacier. "I wasn't aware you had fallen into this desolate place with the rest of us."
But the creature had asked a question and so, despite his very obvious distaste, Ronin forced himself to address it. "Yes, I would," he said sweetly, lying through his teeth.
Vai leant in as Remi whispered to her, a smirk curling across her lips, though she could only offer a shrug in return before he spoke up to the creature's next question. And they had very different answers, it seemed. Unlike the hawk, Vervain could not fly, and her air manipulation was not nearly what it had been in Northaven. (Hells, she forgot it existed half the time these days, such was its weakness).
"Absolutely not," she said frankly, shaking her head up at the cloaked mystery. "Putting blind trust in anything is a terrible idea. I would rather keep my feet firmly planted on the ground and instead be rewarded for my intelligence."
12-12-2018, 08:22 PM (This post was last modified: 12-12-2018, 08:25 PM by Archebold.)
Archebold had watched all of this with some less than subtle amusement. As the creature addressed the young woman, Archebold grinned at the sight of Ronin and his rather...pedestrian looking significant other, or at least he assumed that's who Vanya was.
"It's a funny thing Ronin..."
Archebold called out as he tapped his walking stick over to the pair offering a cordial bow his Vanya though still addressing Ronin.
"...how fate seems to just, work things out for us. One moment I was set to string the whole lot of you up like sacks of feed, to tap at my convenience, all for the sake of freedom. Yet here we are, a whole new world, with new opportunities. I've attained my freedom and not a single drop needed to be wasted."
Golden lionshead knob rolled within his palm as he glanced down to Vanya's stomach and slid his eyes over to Ronin with a smile.
"I suppose congratulations are in order...you lost what was to believed as the remnants of your family back in Northhaven, and gain another here...you're not alone after all. You should embrace this new life, this new opportunity Ronin. There is so much to live for."
Archebold winked as he glanced over toward the creature.
"I do not look to squander this gift of a second chance..."
He muttered quietly to Ronin before addressing the creature.
"I would...what is faith worth having if not blind?"
He was calling Ronin's bluff, had the man truly felt capable of leaping at the promise of not being harmed, so would Archebold.
Kalt narrowed his eyes at the creature, as it continued to approach one step at a time. Needless to say, he didn’t like it. Regardless, his curiosity and need to know was seething directly underneath his skin. If he hadn’t been standing near the back of the crowd, his gall alone would’ve made him take a step closer to the creature with each step it took towards them.
The next request was another answer, though this one was extremely enticing…
Jump off a bridge into an opaque cloud of eerie mist just with the promise of a cloaked creature holding a box that he would be safe. He did idiotic bullshit like that at least daily in his old life. Even here, his first interaction with Ashe had him literally jumping through her lightning to keep his identity hidden. Dumb luck and blind faith had worked for him so far.
Then, wide blue eyes flashed through his mind, and Kalt released a slow sigh, running his fingers through his hair.
”Once upon a time,” he started with a grin, ”I would’ve probably jumped from the bridge without the offer of a reward. Just for the sheer exhilaration, itself. Now, my life doesn’t belong to me, but to my daughter. I’m afraid I couldn’t take that risk.”
Gods above, if it wasn’t for Theea, he probably would have shoved his way to the front and been the first to volunteer.
Desmond looked around with a cautious energy, listening to people. He liked listening; it gave him an idea of who it was that surrounded him. This question seemed to bring the bravery out in some and the caution out in others. For a moment, Desmond wondered if the next task would be leaping into the pit to prove the answers.
”Yes,” he said simply. He offered no explanation of his answer, but given the fact that the creature was able to pull the woman’s name from her mind, he had a feeling he wouldn’t need to verbally explain himself for the creature to know he was being honest.
For Desmond, it was kind of a win-win situation. Either he stepped off the bridge and proved that the creature wasn’t lying and life went on with a reward. Or…he fell. Whatever the result, Desmond’s answer was the same. He might hesitate at first, as was human nature, but he would without a doubt take the leap.
